ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.
Listen "Gitlab's playbook for running PLG and Enterprise motions with Justin Farris"
Episode Synopsis
In this episode of Unpack Pricing, Scott Woody, co-founder and CEO of Metronome, talks with Justin Farris, VP of Product and Monetization at GitLab, a DevSecOps platform.
They discuss how GitLab successfully unified product-led growth, pricing strategy, and core systems under a single leader. Justin (ex-Zillow) shares why treating pricing as a product feature—not just a revenue lever—has been critical to GitLab's success, how they maintain one transparent price book across both self-service and enterprise customers, and why their buyer-based tiering model drives alignment between product and go-to-market teams. Justin also discusses how GitLab balances PLG and enterprise sales motions, how they avoid the "Cheesecake Factory menu" problem when creating add-ons, and his perspective on emerging AI pricing models that go beyond simple consumption-based approaches.
FULL TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE HERE:
https://metronome.com/podcast/unpack-pricing/gitlabs-playbook-for-running-plg-and-enterprise-motions-with-justin-farris
–
Follow:
Scott
https://x.com/l3amm
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-woody-21677121/
Justin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinrfarris/
–
Check out:
Gitlab: https://about.gitlab.com/
Metronome: https://metronome.com/
–
Timestamps (Updated):
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(01:17) Justin's background at Zillow, journey to GitLab and current role
(03:28) Discussion on PLG vs. sales-led motions at Dropbox and GitLab
(06:02) Making PLG and sales partnership work - organizational structure
(09:03) Aligning growth and go-to-market teams through shared metrics
(11:02) Connecting product metrics to revenue impact and growth
(13:39) Advice for companies looking to unify PLG and sales motions
(14:39) Executive alignment: avoiding over-rotation to enterprise
(17:02) GitLab's buyer-based pricing model and transparent price book
(20:34) Pricing as core to product experience, not just a revenue lever
(23:02) Packaging strategy: good-better-best vs. add-on approaches
(26:22) Managing complexity: when to simplify product and pricing
(29:35) Feeding packaging research back to product strategy
(31:36) Testing new pricing models with limited availability products
(34:48) Product leaders as GMs: understanding commercial implications
(38:43) Everyone has opinions on pricing - finding alignment in organizations
(39:49) AI pricing trends: from co-pilots to new commercial models
(44:30) Buyer-based AI pricing and value-based models
(49:14) Learning from startups' pricing innovations
(50:27) Wrap
They discuss how GitLab successfully unified product-led growth, pricing strategy, and core systems under a single leader. Justin (ex-Zillow) shares why treating pricing as a product feature—not just a revenue lever—has been critical to GitLab's success, how they maintain one transparent price book across both self-service and enterprise customers, and why their buyer-based tiering model drives alignment between product and go-to-market teams. Justin also discusses how GitLab balances PLG and enterprise sales motions, how they avoid the "Cheesecake Factory menu" problem when creating add-ons, and his perspective on emerging AI pricing models that go beyond simple consumption-based approaches.
FULL TRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE HERE:
https://metronome.com/podcast/unpack-pricing/gitlabs-playbook-for-running-plg-and-enterprise-motions-with-justin-farris
–
Follow:
Scott
https://x.com/l3amm
https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-woody-21677121/
Justin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinrfarris/
–
Check out:
Gitlab: https://about.gitlab.com/
Metronome: https://metronome.com/
–
Timestamps (Updated):
(00:00) Preview and Intro
(01:17) Justin's background at Zillow, journey to GitLab and current role
(03:28) Discussion on PLG vs. sales-led motions at Dropbox and GitLab
(06:02) Making PLG and sales partnership work - organizational structure
(09:03) Aligning growth and go-to-market teams through shared metrics
(11:02) Connecting product metrics to revenue impact and growth
(13:39) Advice for companies looking to unify PLG and sales motions
(14:39) Executive alignment: avoiding over-rotation to enterprise
(17:02) GitLab's buyer-based pricing model and transparent price book
(20:34) Pricing as core to product experience, not just a revenue lever
(23:02) Packaging strategy: good-better-best vs. add-on approaches
(26:22) Managing complexity: when to simplify product and pricing
(29:35) Feeding packaging research back to product strategy
(31:36) Testing new pricing models with limited availability products
(34:48) Product leaders as GMs: understanding commercial implications
(38:43) Everyone has opinions on pricing - finding alignment in organizations
(39:49) AI pricing trends: from co-pilots to new commercial models
(44:30) Buyer-based AI pricing and value-based models
(49:14) Learning from startups' pricing innovations
(50:27) Wrap
In God we trust